Hockey Australia announces trio of leadership appointments

Signalling its intention to accelerate growth in the sport, Hockey Australia has strengthened its executive team with three appointments in newly-created roles covering revenue, events and digital communications.

The appointments see David Lee named Chief Revenue Officer, Lauren DeGioia stepping into the role of acting Chief Digital and Communications Officer, while Simon Butterly becomes Chief Events Officer.

The career of Lee - an experienced senior commercial executive who spent over six years at Netball Australia as a member of the executive team - spans commercial sponsorship, broadcasting, event management, ticketing, merchandising and digital strategy.

He also worked at the Amy Gillett Foundation and the Melbourne Cricket Club, as well as consulting to a number of organisations through his own business.

DeGioia has over 12 years’ experience working in sports and events environments across digital marketing, communications, media and content management. She has spent the last six years working in London for a leading international sports technology and data organisation and the International Tennis Federation (ITF). Prior to that she held roles at Rugby Australia, the NSW Waratahs and the Rugby Union Players’ Association (RUPA).

Butterly has been Hockey Australia’s Senior Events Manager since October 2022 during which he has successfully run the Kookaburras and Hockeyroos series in Adelaide plus this year’s home FIH Pro League ‘mini tournaments’ in Sydney and Hobart, while being an integral part of HA’s other hosted events.

Previously, Butterly was a Manager at Life Saving Victoria following 17 years working for PGA Australia.

The appointments follow the decision to split the existing commercial operations into the areas of revenue, events and digital & communications, which will support Hockey Australia’s strategic purpose of growing and nurturing the game across country.

Hockey Australia has also recently introduced a Growth Department, a team whose overriding goal is to enhance the game’s development and increase participation, creating more opportunities to engage with hockey year-round. The Growth team replaces the previous Strategy & Game Development Department.

To lead this area, Suzanne Henderson was appointed to the role of Chief Growth Officer in February.

Henderson was previously General Manager - Game Development and a member of the Executive Leadership team at Hockey Victoria.